Frédéric Delavier has captivated millions with Strength
Training Anatomy. Now readers have access to Delavier’s exercise
expertise and trademark illustrations once again with Delavier’s
Stretching Anatomy. With full-color photos and illustrations, this
guide depicts over 130 exercises to increase flexibility, tone muscles,
and reduce injury.

Get an inside view of the muscles in action during every stretch you perform!

Delavier’s Stretching Anatomy is your guide for increasing flexibility, improving range of motion, toning muscles, and relieving pain and discomfort. The very best stretches for shoulders, chest, arms, torso, back, hips, and legs are all here, and all in the stunning detail that only Frédéric Delavier can provide.

With over 550 full-color photos and illustrations, you’ll go inside more than 130 exercises to see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures and learn how variations, progressions, and sequencing can affect muscle recruitment, the underlying structures, and ultimately the results.

The former editor in chief of PowerMag in France, author and illustrator Frédéric Delavier is a journalist for Le Monde du Muscle and a contributor to Men’s Health Germany and several other strength publications. His previous publications, Strength Training Anatomy and Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, have sold more than 2 million copies.

Contents

INTRODUCTION
Why Stretching?
Exercises That Reconnect You With Your Body

STRETCHING: A USER’S MANUAL

A Natural Method Based On How Your Body Feels, Not How Hard You Push
Benefits of Stretching
A Gentle Form of Exercise
Types of Stretching
Structuring a Stretching Program Learn How to Breathe!
Breathing and Relaxation
For Effective Breathing
Inhaling and Exhaling
Breathe Deeply, but Find a Natural Rhythm
Active Breathing
External Breathing
Pulmonary BreathingWhy Athletes Should Stretch
Stretching Has Five Benefits for Athletes
Too Much Flexibility Can Diminish Performance
Athletes Have Four Opportunities to Stretch
How an Athlete Should Stretch
Breathing During Stretching
Stretching Unilaterally
Stretching to Prevent Problems Associated With Sports

THE STRETCHES

Stretches for the Neck
Stretches for the Shoulders and Chest
To Prevent Shoulder Pain, Stretch the Infraspinatus
Preventing Shoulder Pain in Athletes
How to Protect the Infraspinatus Stretches for the Arms and Forearms
Stretches for the Lateral Flexor Muscles in the Torso
Stretches for the Rotator Muscles in the Torso
Stretches to Relax the Back
Preventing Lower Back Pain
Relaxing the Spinal Column Stretches for the Hips
Importance of Hip Flexibility Stretches for the Buttocks
Stretches for the Quadriceps
Stretches for the Hamstrings
Preventing Hamstring Tears Stretches for the Adductors
Stretches for the Calves

Frédéric Delavier is a gifted artist with an
exceptional knowledge of human anatomy. He studied morphology and
anatomy for five years at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris
and studied dissection for three years at the Paris Faculté de Médecine.

The former editor in chief of the French magazine PowerMag,
Delavier is currently a journalist for the French magazine Le Monde
du Muscle and a contributor to several other muscle publications,
including Men's Health Germany. He is the author of the
best-selling Strength Training Anatomy, Women’s Strength
Training Anatomy, The Strength Training Anatomy Workout, and Delavier's
Core Training Anatomy.

Delavier won the French powerlifting title in 1988 and makes annual
presentations on the sport applications of biomechanics at conferences
in Switzerland. His teaching efforts have earned him the Grand Prix de
Techniques et de Pédagogie Sportive. Delavier lives in Paris, France.

Jean-Pierre Clémenceau is a fitness coach to the stars and
has trained numerous French celebrities using an approach based on
positioning and breathing. Clémenceau has worked with legendary
actresses including an Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (Chocolat,
The English Patient, Three Colors: Blue, The Unbearable Lightness of
Being), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia, The Science of Sleep, I'm Not
There, 21 Grams, Elektra recording artist), Emmanuelle Béart (Mission:
Impossible, Don Juan, Manon of the Spring), and Jane Birkin (Blow-Up,
recording artist, muse to musicians John Barry & Serge Gainsbourg, and
namesake for the Hermès Birkin bag). He is the author of over 15 health
and fitness books as well as numerous exercise DVDs. He has a background
in yoga, shiatsu, and reiki.

Michael Gundill has written 13 books on strength training, sport
nutrition, and health including co-authoring The Strength Training
Anatomy Workout. His books have been translated into multiple
languages, and he has written over 500 articles for bodybuilding and
fitness magazines worldwide, including Iron Man and Dirty
Dieting. In 1998 he won the Article of the Year Award at the Fourth
Academy of Bodybuilding Fitness & Sports Awards in California.

Gundill started weightlifting in 1983 in order to improve his rowing
performance. Most of his training years were spent completing specific
lifting programs in his home. As he gained muscle and refined his
program, he began to learn more about physiology, anatomy, and
biomechanics and started studying those subjects in medical journals.
Since 1995 he has been writing about his discoveries in various
bodybuilding and fitness magazines all over the world.